Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets)

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these â€Å"lovers†. After analysis of the content of both the â€Å"young man† sonnets and the â€Å"dark lady sonnets†, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress. In order to fully understand the depth of emotion that†¦show more content†¦So the lover, the poet, treats the loved object, the young man, as he would himself. The loved object serves as a substitute for some unattained ideal. In the case of the sonnets, the ideal is love. Being in love allows the poet to have what he wants but could not acquire before and serves as a means of satisfying his self-love. Joseph Pequigney, author of Such is My Love: A Study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, agrees with and elaborates on Freud. He writes, â€Å"All of these characteristics belong to the poet’s love for the friend. It is a love that pays handsome narcissistic dividends; it is advantageous also for the friend, who is praised for personal qualities that would likely pass unnoticed were the poet not under the spell of his beauty.† Pequigney goes on to touch on the antithesis of the poet’s love for the young man, his lust for his mistress the â€Å"dark lady†. Because the mistress offers no self-seeking advantages, she is â€Å"disesteemed with vice but never virtue ascribed to her† (Pequigney 157). The poet attacks and questions her physical attractiveness as the affair goes on and she arouses lust that comes and goes. Sonnets 127-154 are addressed to the â€Å"dark lady† (hereafter the mistress). Shakespeare’s relations to his mistress vacillate; sometimes sanguine, tender, teasing, or bitterly anger; yet it is a simpler relation than thatShow MoreRelated Shakespeare?s Sonnets: The Theme Of Love Essay1228 Words   |  5 Pages Shakespeare’s poems are the monument of a remarkable genius but they are also the monuments of a remarkable age. The greatness of Shakespeare’s achievement was largely made possible by the work of his immediate predecessors, Sidney and Spenser. Shakespeare’s sonnets are intensely personal and are records of his hopes and fears, love and friendships, infatuations and disillusions that in turn acquire a universal quality through their intensity. The vogue of the sonnet in the Elizabethan age wasRead MoreShakespeares Sonnets: the Theme of Love1314 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeares poems are the monument of a remarkable genius but they are also the monuments of a remarkable age. 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